In May 2005, he also asked the European Commission to create an investigation, after learning that Frits Bolkestein (author of the Directive on services in the internal market) was a member of the Russian Bank Menatep's international consultative council (owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and that he had worked for the Shell British-Dutch petrol company, two firms "detaining secret accounts in Clearstream".

His whistleblowing on 9 December 1998 indirectly led to the resignation of the Commission presided by Jacques Santer (who has also been prime minister of Luxembourg) and the fall of Édith Cresson.

On 26 April 2006, daily 20 Minutes revealed that "in May 2005, MEP Paul van Buitenen was shocked by Frits Bolkestein's presence to Menatep's international consultative council, a sulfurous Russian banking establishment, and by his work for Shell, British-Dutch petrol company.

The Commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, answered that these facts "don't bring up any new question" and that it is not known "if Menatep took contact with Bolkestein while he was in his functions".

[3] On 5 March 2008, Paul van Buitenen published [4] on his website[5] a summary of a confidential internal report[6] dealing with abuse of the EU expenses and staff allowance system.